Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/62

52 R R - - O R T quantities used many intermediate tones may be obtained. These artificial preparations all contain free -arsenious acid, and are therefore highly poisonous. Formerly, under the name of king s yellow, a preparation of orpiment was in considerable use as a pigment, but now it has been largely superseded by chrome-yellow. It was also at one time used in dyeing and calico-printing, and for the unhairing of skins, &c.; but safer and equally efficient substitutes have been found. ORRERY, EARLS OF. See BOYLE. ORRIS-ROOT consists of the rhizomes or underground stems of three species of Iris, I. germcuiica, I. Jlorentina, and /. pallida, closely allied plants growing in subtropical and temperate latitudes, but principally identified with North Italy. The three plants are indiscriminately culti vated in the neighbourhood of Florence as an agricultural product under the name of "ghiaggiuolo." The rhizomes form joints of annual growth from 3 to 4 inches long ; they branch and give off rootlets at the joints, and when these attain five years of age they begin to decay. When taken out of the ground the branches and rootlets are trimmed off, the brown bark removed, and the separated joints are put up to dry and mature. In its fresh condition orris- root contains an acrid juice and has an earthy odour, but it is quite destitute of the fragrance which ultimately characterizes the substance, and which develops fully only after a lapse of about two years, probably by fermenta tion. As it comes into the market, orris-root is in the form of contorted sticks and irregular knobby pieces up to 4 inches in length, of a compact chalky appearance, having a delicate but distinct odour of violets. By distil lation with water a crystalline body known as orris-camphor or oil of orris, possessing the fragrant properties of orris- root, is obtained. It is present in exceedingly small quantity, from (HO to 80 per cent., and Professor Fliickiger has demonstrated that the crude distillate con sists only of myristic acid impregnated with or scented by the essential oil of orris, a body which may never be isolated owing to the necessarily minute quantities in which it could be produced. - Orris-root has been a well- known and esteemed perfume from early Greek times. It is principally powdered for use in dentifrices and other scented dry preparations ; but to some extent the crude oil is distilled for general perfumery purposes. It is also used in small pellets as issue peas. ORSIXI, FELICE (1819-1858), Italian patriot, was born in December 1819 at a small town in the Roman states not far from Forli. He was educated for the church, but soon abandoned that career, and joined Mazzini s Young Italy Society in 1838. For engaging in revolutionary projects he was arrested 1st May 1844, and sentenced at Rome to the galleys for life, but by the amnesty proclaimed on the accession of Pius IX. he was restored to liberty. In 1848 he became leader of a band of youthful Romagnoli, distinguishing himself greatly at Vicenza and Treviso ; and in 1849 he was chosen a deputy to the Roman parliament. After the suppression of the revolution he became one of the most active agents of Mazzini, and while engaged in a mission to Hungary he was in December 1854 arrested at Hermannstadt and imprisoned at Mantua. A few months afterwards he made his escape by sawing through the bars of his cell, and in 1856 he published a narrative of his prison experiences under the title Austrian Dungeons in Italy. Some time after a rupture with Mazzini he went to Paris with the determination to assassinate Napoleon III., whom he regarded as the chief stumbling-block in the way of Italian independence, and the principal cause of the anti-liberal reaction in Europe. While the emperor and empress were returning from the opera on the evening of January 14, 1858, bombs were exploded at their carriage, but without inflicting any injury on either. In th attempt Orsini had three associates, Pieri, Rudio, and Gomez. Gomez was pardoned, the sentence against Rudio was commuted on the scaffold, but Orsini and Pieri were executed 13th March 1858. Orsini, whose action had an important influence in precipitating the campaign of 1859 (see vol. ix. p. 624), met his fate with great dignity and stoicism. See Memoirs and Adventures of Felice Orsini written lij himself, translated by George Carboncl, Edinburgh, 1857 ; Lcttere Edite cd Incdite di Felice Orsini, 2 vols. , Milan, 1861 ; / Contemporanei Italiani Felice Orsini, by Enrico Montazio, Turin, 1862; La Vcriti sur Orsini, par un ancien Proscrit, 1879. ORSK (Yaman-kala of the Kirghiz), a district town of Orenburg, Russia, 155 miles to the east-south-east of the capital of the government, on the right bank of the Ural, was originally founded in 1735 as the principal Russian fort against the attacks of the Kirghiz, Though this was afterwards transferred to Orenburg, the town of Orsk has increased rapidly within the last few years, owing to the fertility of the surrounding country, to immigration, and to the growth of trade with the Kirghiz. The population, only 6000 some fifteen years ago, reached 14,350 in 1880, and has since become larger. ORTELIUS, ORTELL, or OERTEL, ABRAHAM, next to Mercator the greatest geographer of his age, was born at Antwerp in 1527, and died in the same city on June 28, 1598. He visited various parts of the Netherlands and Germany (1575), England and Ireland (1577), and Italy on several occasions. His Theatrum Orbis Tcrrintm (published at Antwerp in 1570, and reissued in a revised form five times during his lifetime) was the first modern atlas, Mercator having, it is said, delayed the appearance of his collection out of consideration for his friend. Most of the maps were admittedly reproductions, and no attempt was made to reconcile discrepancies of delineation or nomen clature. To the modern eye even England and Scotland appear with amusing distortions (the Mons Grampius, e.g., lies between the Forth and the Clyde); but, taken as a whole, the noble folio, with its well-nigh one hundred maps, and its careful accompaniment of text, was a monument of rare erudition and industry ; and the author well deserved the appointment to be cosmographer to Philip II. bestowed upon him in 1575. A few years later he laid the basis of a critical treatment of ancient geography by his Synonymia geographica (Antwerp, 1578), reissued as Thesaurus geogra- phicus in 1 596. Other works from his pen are Itimrarium per nonnullas Gallise Belgicse, jmrtes, 1584 (reprinted in Hegenitius, Itin. Frisio-Ifoll.); Deorum dearumque capita, 1573 (reprinted in Gronovius, Thes. Gr. Ant., vol. vii.). See Mamlo in Annalcs des Voyages, ii., and Gerard in Lull, de la soc. yeogr. d Anvers, 1880. ORTHONYX, the scientific name given in 1820, by Temminck, to a little bird, which, from the straightness of its claws, a character somewhat exaggerated by him, its large feet and spiny tail, he judged to be generically distinct from any other form. Concerning its affinities much doubt has long prevailed, and this has been only lately set at rest. The typical species, 0. spinicaiida, is from south-eastern Australia, where it is said to be very local in its distribution, and strictly terrestrial in its habits. In the course of time two other small birds from New Zealand, where they are known as the " Whitehead " and " Yellowhead," were referred to the genus, under the names of 0. albicilla 1 and 0. ochrocephala, and then the question of its affinity became more interesting. By some systematists it was supposed to belong to the otherwise purely Neotropical Dendrocolaptidx, and in that case would have been the sole representative of the Tracheo- 1 It may be charitably conjectured that the nomenclator intended to write albicapilla.